Two-step painted dye napkins for summer

8.21.2014

It's summer, and I'm milking every last minute of it. So I'm still going to talk about outdoor dye projects like these dye-painted napkins!!

After I tie dyed the dress I shared last week, I wanted to do more with that One-Step Tie Dye stuff and I had several more colors to choose from. I also had these white cotton napkins from a craft workshop I went to taught by my pal Jenni of A Well-Crafted Party. In fact, this idea is entirely hers. You can even see me in the corners of these photos from the event, painting napkins with navy blue dye for 4th of July.

After I played with the squirt bottle method for my tie dye stripe dress, I thought I'd try squirt bottle patterns on the napkins. Turned out that didn't really work for precision or soaking in the dye in the right place, so I went back to the painting method.

It was really nice to have the easy-to-use squirt bottle to mix the dye in, though, and have it available to squeeze into the dish. But mostly I just painted my sort of ikat-ey diamond pattern on.

As it goes in summer... I let the napkins dry outside in the 90+ degree heat for a couple hours, then washed them in the washer with detergent. They came out lighter, but still a bright color!

Then I pressed them (they're 100% cotton) and folded them. I made eight! Will have to have a summery dinner party sometime so I can use them all.

I had fun doing imperfect but still mostly balanced ikat diamond patterns on them all. They are all slightly different!

Of course perfect for outdoor dining!

I highly encourage you to try it if you want a fun and easy project before summer's up!